We bought a small pack of sausages and left. The guy thought he had retired and moved to Florida. There was a framed newspaper article about Pocoroba on the wall of the tiny establishment, but the man behind the counter said the ex-Brave had sold the business a long time ago. My wife and I showed up there a few years ago, hoping to meet Pocoroba in person, take a selfie, and maybe explain why we still loved him so much.
It made perfect sense, he once explained, because he grew up with Italian food and had a grandfather who made sausages for his family. ”Īfter his game days were over, Pocoroba owned a store called Sausage World, which is pretty self-explanatory. “ He read it through and went on to the next page. “I think that was a page in his life,” Niekro speculated. When Pocoroba showed up at one of the team’s alumni events, Knucksie doesn’t remember it. The 81-year-old Niekro never saw him as a guest teacher at the Atlanta stadium or during the many spring trainings in Florida. While the guy known as “Poco” remained a nice memory for many Braves fans – who could forget this name again? – He didn’t linger around to soak up worship. ” If he could have had a second catcher behind the plate to throw the ball on the second base for him, Biff could have had a great career. “You must be able to throw the ball if you’re a catcher,” said Niekro ruefully. There was an aborted attempt to turn him into a third baseman, but he failed.
With his arm shot, Pocoroba spent his last seasons as a backup catcher and pinch hitting specialist.
Pocoroba was released by the Braves at the beginning of the 1984 season and ended at the age of 30 with a shoulder injury that shortened a potentially more productive career. They hadn’t seen each other in at least 30 years. He wasn’t the greatest catcher ever, but he was a good catcher. ” He was a warrior, I tell you, he was a fighter. “All I know is when he came to the baseball stadium, whether it was a home or street game, he had his game face every day,” said Niekro on Wednesday night when he got home. The last of these outs was delivered by his teammate and future Hall of Famer, ankle ball player Phil Niekro. He entered the Midsummer Classic at the then San Diego Stadium in the ninth inning and squatted behind the plate for the last three outs of the NL’s 7-3 victory. It’s strange how certain athletes can be intertwined with your life and take on an oversized role that goes against all logic and reason.īiff Pocoroba was by no means a great player, although he was good enough to stay with the Braves for almost a decade – even good enough to secure a place in the All Star game in 1978. “When he retired, he became a full-time dad and chauffeur for his 15 grandchildren,” the obituary said.
The funeral note said that his passion was number one for his family. My wife and I actually went looking for him a few years ago – only to find, unfortunately, that he had withdrawn from the sausage specialty business that he had operated in a suburb of Atlanta for over two decades. Pocoroba always had a special place in our house for reasons that I will explain shortly. The former Atlanta Braves catcher died last weekend at the age of 66, a loss I couldn’t miss if I only mentioned his humble baseball successes and a decade-long career that he spent mostly with some really terrible teams. If such a great, impressive name were the main qualifier, it would surely be anchored in Cooperstown. No doubt one of the greatest baseball monikers ever.
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